


Fairy Tales

by KadiRose0101



Series: The Killer's Daughter [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27538630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KadiRose0101/pseuds/KadiRose0101
Summary: Not long after receiving a book from her father, chaos erupts within Hogwarts as the long-missing man might be amongst them.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/George Weasley, George Weasley/Reader
Series: The Killer's Daughter [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997173
Kudos: 9





	Fairy Tales

"The truly scary thing about undiscovered lies is that they have a greater capacity to diminish us than exposed ones. They erode our strength, our self-esteem, our very foundation."  
\- Cheryl Hughes

10\. Fairy Tales

Over the next couple of weeks, the goings around Hogwarts had been completely normal and uneventful. Classes had been fairly decent and easy and Euphemia was able to spend more time reading up on material for fourth year. She was breezing past her other classes with ease and her professors were all impressed with her, even Snape. She was still tutoring other students when they needed it, but she kept to her books.

After Euphemia had received the book from her father, she had found her hope again that he would come back. She had been very curious about how he knew to say that he hadn't forgotten her. She had mentioned in the room of requirement to Harry that she thought that Sirius had forgotten her completely and just didn't remember her anymore. She thought that maybe he had gone mad enough in that prison cell that he forgot about his own daughter.

It was relieving to receive the book and the small note inside as she realized she would see him again eventually. She had thought for almost the entire school year that he had no interest in finding her, but after voicing that concern, she receives a reminder that he hasn't. She brought the book with her everywhere and made notes in the margins about her thoughts as she went through each story. However, she couldn't help herself from looking at the message in the front of the book often, written in black ink in her father's aristocratic calligraphy.

She was currently in study hall and she was working on Herbology homework with George who was feeling quite clueless. Neville sat across the table from them reading a completely different textbook about unique plants and their properties, something he had picked out in the library. Professor Sprout says that the two were her favorite students because they often spent the most time learning about the subject and they would often stay after class to help her with the many magical plants.

They were quietly reading up on venomous tentacula when they heard loud footsteps rushing into the hall. Euphemia looked up to see Seamus looking in quite a hurry. She brushed it off as nothing because he was a strange boy. Then she heard him exclaim something quite loudly at the head of the Gryffindor table.

"He's been sighted!"

"Who?" Dean replied.

"Sirius Black, that's who." Euphemia's head snapped up and her eyes widened.

"Where?" She asked, looking in their direction curiously. "Where was he sighted?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Seamus said in a dismissing voice.

"Obviously, otherwise, I wouldn't be asking." She said, her voice sounding tenser already.

He chuckled. "I bet you'll be just like him. It runs in the blood you know," Seamus taunted. Her hair turned navy blue, feeling the anxiety seeping into her skin.

"Levicorpus," She pointed her wand at him, and two seconds later, Seamus Finnigan was hanging upside down by his ankles. 

"Put me down, Black!" He shouted. She obliged and set him down gently on the ground.

"Don't ever insult me again or next time I'll hang you from the pole on the astronomy tower." She threatened.

"Flipendo," She blocked the spell coming. 

"Expelliarmus," She shouted and his wand flew to the other side of the hall.

Dean and Seamus were both shocked. "We don't learn that spell until next year," Dean spoke up.

"None of your business, now, what town was he spotted in?" She asked again.

"Dufftown." He replied hesitantly.

"That's not far from here," She mumbled more to herself than anyone else in general. 

Just then, there was a loud uproar. They heard loud shouts from the hallway outside of the great hall. Everyone stood up, leaving their books where they were, and rushed to the hallway. Students were crowded in the hall looking up the winding staircases. Euphemia shoved through until she got to Harry, who was towards the top near the Gryffindor house entrance.

"Harry, what's going on?" She asked, quite confused.

He pointed at the large portrait painting that was slashed. "The Fat Lady. She's gone," The slashes looked similar to claw marks that a large dog or a wolf would make. She felt goosebumps run over her skin. What if her father was here right now? She tried to push it out of her mind, hoping that her father wouldn't make such a reckless decision to sneak into Hogwarts. 

Euphemia started looking to see if she was in any of the other paintings. "How can she just be gone?" She questioned. 

"No idea," Soon after, they heard someone scream. Harry and Euphemia pushed further up the stairs to see the Fat Lady in a separate painting, hiding behind a rather large hippopotamus. She had a very panicked expression written across her face.

"Madam, what's wrong?" Euphemia asked her.

"He's here... in the castle." She replied, quite shakily.

Euphemia sighed. "Who's in the castle?" She asked with more intent.

"Sirius Black, he's here." There was silence before people started whispering. The whispering grew to talk and then to shouting. Apparently, her father was just as reckless as she had feared.

The students heard a loud baritone voice boom through the corridor. "Silence!" Dumbledore shouted. Everyone turned towards him. "Students, please remain calm. Prefects, please escort your houses back to the dormitories to collect any school bags and clothing for the next day. Until further notice, classes are canceled and everyone shall remain in the great hall for the night until Sirius Black is caught." Part of Euphemia's heart dropped at this announcement. All she wanted to do was run to go and find him on her own.

Euphemia followed orders and followed Percy with the rest of the Gryffindor students. They made it back to the common room after someone pried the door open since the fat lady had refused to move back to her portrait frame. She walked up to the dormitory and grabbed her large purse and shoved an outfit to sleep in and a day outfit inside. She picked Ceti up off of the bed with a meow in protest and walked down to the common room where a bunch of other students were already waiting. Once everyone had some of their possessions, they were escorted into the great hall. 

On the way there, Euphemia could have sworn she had seen a rather large black dog that looked very familiar. The dog had also been walking with an orange tabby cat. It looked very similar to Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. A rat ran into the animal's view and they sprinted after it, the dog barking loudly as if yelling at the smaller creature. Those were some very curious animals.

All of the students congregated in the great hall that evening. Euphemia sat in a small circle with Fred and George, Hermione, Parvati, Harry, and Ron. George sat on one side and Harry sat on the other side of her. Around the hall, people were talking and laughing, some were yelling across the hall, and some were whispering among themselves. A rumor that she had heard from a few sleeping bags away, was that the students were afraid Sirius Black would break through the great hall doors and start murdering people if he wasn't caught. People whispered all around her and some people looked to Euphemia as if she had been conspiring to get her father into the castle.

She tried to stay involved in the conversation, trying to distract herself, but her mind kept falling to what would happen if Sirius got caught. It made her stomach churn in knots as she thought about the possibilities. She had been so hopeful that she would get to see him again because of the message she had received in the book and she didn't want that hope to go away. She was so close to maybe seeing him again.

Euphemia felt herself cracking under the stares and whispers of the students around her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of her knees, her book tucked into her lap tightly. She was so lost in thought that she never realized that her hair had turned dark blue out of anxiety and that a tear had fallen down her face. She felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her shoulders and looked over to see George with a small smile on his face, but looking at her with concerned eyes.

"It's going to be alright," he said and she nodded and leaned into his arms, accepting the warm embrace for a few moments before pulling away. She stayed sitting with her knees up to her chest but started to invest herself more in the conversation. The small reassurance from George made things a bit easier. 

Across the hall, Remus had been watching Euphemia with concerned eyes as her hair had turned darker and there were tears starting to fall down her face. He wanted to run over there and tell her that everything will be completely fine, but he wasn't so sure that everything would be alright. There were so many unknowns that he couldn't confirm and it was driving him wild.

He wondered how his old friend had been able to get into the castle undetected until students noticed the portrait; how nobody had noticed a strange ragged man walking around the castle; and how Moony hadn't noticed the familiar scent of Padfoot until later that evening. Sirius most definitely was in the castle, but he wasn't going to go searching for him in case there was someone else who had been following him.

Several things had changed over the past couple of weeks that he found odd. Like the sudden friendship between her and Harry. Although it had been a welcomed change, it had been strange nonetheless. He had noticed that Euphemia had been a bit more invested in a certain book as of late. Specifically, the fact that she peaked at the inside of the front cover fairly often. He realized that he needed some answers.

He pushed off the wall that he had been leaning against and started his walk over to the group of teenagers. As he got closer he was able to tune into the conversation due to his excellent wolf hearing.

"Seamus has always been a right foul git, Effie," George said as the two played a game of cards.

"He said that 'it runs in the blood'," Euphemia spoke, sadness overcoming her.

"Don't let it get to you. I'll jinx him if you want," George suggested.

She laughed lightly. "I'd love to take you up on that offer, but I think I gave him a piece of my mind just enough that he'll leave me alone for a while." She exclaimed softly just as Remus approached the group.

He cleared his throat a little and Euphemia looked up to him with a smile. "Mind if I borrow you for a moment?" He asked and she nodded, standing up with the book clutched in her hands.

He pulled her off to the side to an area that didn't have as many students around. "How are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm doing fine, how about you?" She asked in response.

"Fine," he cleared his throat again awkwardly. "So, when did you and Harry become best friends?"

Her eyes widened and then looked off to the side at him. "We, um, had a heart to heart." He looked at her sternly. "We did, honestly, it's just a bit deeper than that." She elaborated further and Remus dropped it.

"What about that book you've got there?" Remus said and pointed at the book she gripped tightly in her hands. She pulled it to her chest and her shoulders got tense. "I'm not going to take it from you, Euphemia. I'm just curious," he said, putting his hands up in defense.

She very cautiously let Remus take the book from her. It felt like giving her heart away to somebody but handing it over. It was the only thing she had received from her father in over twelve years.

Remus looked at the title. Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. He looked up at Euphemia and saw the fear lingering in her eyes as she knew Remus would figure out the secret that Harry and she had been keeping for the past few weeks. He looked back down at the book and flipped open the front cover of the book seeing a short message written there. 

I didn't forget about you. - S. B.

He looked back up at Euphemia and saw the tears in her eyes. He closed the book and handed it back to her gently. She took it from his hands and she clutched it against her chest again.

"Have you spoken to him?" Remus asked.

"No, he just sent me this the other day by owl." She responded.

"So that's what you got the other day," he said, a look of understanding washing over his face. She nodded.

"I thought I saw a black dog walking through the halls the other day and followed it, but I couldn't find it in time." She paused and looked at Remus pleadingly. "Was that him? Was he in animagus form?"

"I can't be positive, I would have to see it for myself. It could have just been a random stray from Hogsmeade," he replied.

Euphemia wanted to scream and yell at him to just tell her the truth and be honest and stop lying to her face. She wanted to throw him choice words for not being upfront. Her hair turned straight black, showing she felt hurt. Not physically, but she was hurt internally, emotionally. It felt like the beginning of the year all over again, the lies and him trying to protect her, but hurting her instead.

He reached out to touch her arm. "Effie," he said, but she held a hand out in front of her to halt his words.

"S-stop, just s-stop." A tear fell down her face, her voice breaking. She dropped her arm to her side. She took a deep breath trying to hold back the dam of tears that wanted to overflow into waterfalls. "Just t-tell me the truth, p-please." She looked him in the eyes again. "Was it h-him?"

"Yes," Remus spoke reluctantly.

Euphemia pursed her lips and just looked down at the ground, shaking her head. She looked back up at him and turned away without saying another word. It took everything in her to not break into a pile of million pieces. She took a second to breathe and collect herself before walking back over to the group of friends.

George and Harry noticed the change in her demeanor instantly but knew she wasn't going to want to talk about it in front of the others and let it slide. No one else seemed to notice a difference and if they did, they never said anything. 

Soon enough it was time to go to bed and all of the students had laid down to go to sleep. Euphemia stared at the ceiling of the great hall with new curiosity in the arcs of the ancient structure. The ceiling began to show a beautiful galaxy scene and tried to be positive. It's best not to dwell or stress about anything too much. He's made it this far, I'm sure he'll be fine, were her final thoughts before she fell asleep. I hope.


End file.
